Ok, so recently I decided to fire up a few alts, to see what the real difference in upkeep is between a variety of classes and try and gain an unbiased view. What I found is interesting. I decided to use only midrange equipment for all builds, to try and see what an average class cost is for each. Most of these equipment selections are based on observations from what other people use as medium range equipment on the servers, obviously there will be variants of all sorts, but this is just to try and gauge the situation.
So here it is:
2H:
Equipment:
1. Kerghit War Helmet (1775)
2. Sarrinid Guard Armour (8502)
3. Mail Chausses (1290)
4. Miaodao (8376)
5. Total = 19943
An average, medium armoured build with a relatively good weapon. I could get kills, it took a good few hits to kill me and so I was in the top portion of the server with an average KD ratio of 3:1. A very cheap class in comparison to most. I was hitting the top of the siege servers all morning with this alt (and actually found it quite fun) but it is by far the most cost effective build, as long as you don't use overly heavy armour, and on a STR build, you don't really need anything to costly to perform at a high level.
Crossbowmen:
Equipment:
1. Kettle Hat (1936)
2. White Tunic Over Mail (3459)
3. Mail Chausses (1290)
4. Crossbow (10474)
5. Steel Bolts (2563)
6. Mace (2925)
7. Total: 22647
A more expensive build than 2H, primarily depending on what armour you take and whether you go shield 1h, or 2h.
Archer
Equipment:
1. Studded Leather Coat (2679)
2. Leather Gloves (289)
3. Leather Boots (345)
5. Rus Bow (9974)
6. Barbed Arrows (1640)
7. Barbed Arrows (1640)
8. Total: 16867
At first glance this would appear to be a cheaper build. Archers naturally can't vary to much on armour due to penalties on wpf and so have to stick to the cheap stuff. Obviously you can throw a 1h weapon in there if you must instead of arrows. However, this is all very deceptive. The increased arrow breakage means that if you use anything more than Barbed arrows, you start forking out huge amounts for upkeep. 2 Sheaths on bodkins could certainly empty out your money coffers quickly, as could Tartar arrows. Right now barbed arrows and arrows are the most viable on any stronger builds than this.
Lancer
Equipment:
1. Kerghit War Helmet (1775)
2. Sarranid Mail Shirt (5823)
3. Mail Mittens (1376)
4. Mail Chausses (1290)
5. Desert Horse (12357)
6. Heavy Lance (9702)
7. Scimitar (4914)
8. Total: 37237
This is again, a very very average build, this could be increased by 10000 if you just wanted to use the next tier horses, even more for heavies. But due to the nature of needing a lance and a horse, the cost is double that of a 2h and Archer. Even though due to the lance nerf, 2h can beat lancers and lancers aren't as good as they were. In a lot of cases the 2h is the far superior in these builds. An average 2h could quite easily beat an average lancer build.
Horse Archer
Equipment:
1. Steppe Armour (195)
2. Nomad Boots (236)
3. Leather Gloves (289)
4. Desert Horse (12357)
5. Horn Bow (7896)
6. Barbed Arrows (1640)
7. Barbed Arrows (1640)
8. Barbed Arrows (1640)
9. Total: 25893
Again this appears cheaper than a lancer, but more costly than infantry. Yet it is again deceptive, due to the breakability of arrows, anything over normal arrows causes you a huge bleed in finance. This is also a very very average HA build. Most will use a courser, Arabian or Destrier, putting the cost up by another 10000.
Conclusions:
There will be many variations of these, and I did miss out throwing and 1h cav and shielder, partly because I haven't tried it yet and partly because I thought those with more experience in those builds could add a little more. But these are average equipment builds, anything less or anything more would make them useless, or OP for a examination of the upkeep.
It is my belief that upkeep needs to be balanced by effectiveness on the battlefield. Currently it isn't being done like that. 2h comes out as one of the cheapest builds, yet even me, a HA who has never been able to manual block, could consistently hit the top portions of the servers on my first time 2h after a couple of hours of using it.
Archers are weakened by the arrow upkeep as it is a hidden cost that doesn't appear until you start playing, but actually increases the cost of archery immensely. The same applies to HA. And due to the current nerfs I feel this is a little to harsh. Reduce the break ability of arrows again and I think archers would be in a relatively good place.
Lancers got a very heavy nerf last patch. A reduction in the lance angle and nerfs to the horses. Yet nothing was changed about upkeep. It is still by far one of the most expensive builds out there. I know it is still effective on the battlefield, but I think that it's price is to high compared to that of 2h. 2h lolstabs now outrange the lance on a head on fight. And lancers can only back stab. Therefore I think that costs should be readjusted to bring them closer to the average 2h builds. Obviously not that cheap, but still a lot cheaper than they are now.
Crossbows are hard for me to comment on. This build is often incoporated as a hybrid and I'm not entirely sure of the expense of making a pure xbower. But It appears to me that they are in a good place upkeep wise, although the cost of the crossbow is a little bit painful.
